4.5.1 Types of Legacies

There are three types of testamentary dispositions: universal, general, and particular.1 A universal legacy is the disposition of all of the estate, or the balance of the estate that remains after particular legacies.2  A general legacy is a disposition by which the testator bequeaths a fraction or a certain proportion of the estate, or a fraction or a certain proportion of the balances of the estate that remains after particular legacies.3 A legacy that is neither general nor universal is a particular legacy.4

These classifications become important if a legacy lapses, if one of the legatees renounces the inheritance, or if there are insufficient assets to satisfy all legacies. Particular legacies must be discharged in preference to all others.5 If the property remaining after payment of the debts and satisfaction of the legitime proves insufficient to discharge all particular legacies, the legacies of specific things must be discharged first and then the legacies of groups and collections of things.6 Any remaining property must be applied toward the discharge of legacies of money, to be divided among the legatees of money in proportion to the amounts of their legacies.7 When a legacy of money is expressly declared compensation for services, it shall be paid in preference to all other legacies of money.8

• 1La. C.C. art. 1584.
• 2La. C.C. art. 1585.
• 3La. C.C. art. 1586.
• 4La. C.C. art. 1587.
• 5La. C.C. art. 1600.
• 6La. C.C. art. 1601.
• 7Id.
• 8Id.